We are starting to see Samsung putting in more effort to create a unified user experience across different device categories. The Tizen 8 update for smart TVs and monitors brings One UI elements to big-screen devices.
We also found that Tizen 8 intertwines the TV and Galaxy Watch experiences a little more to the benefit of Samsung Health users. And now, if you have One UI on your TV, you can start a workout on your Galaxy Watch using your TV remote.
Well, almost.
The system isn't quite as advanced or seamless as it sounds. But hopefully, it's only the first step in the right direction.
So, here's how it works. You can navigate the new One UI interface using the TV remote to access the “Daily+” tab from the sidebar. Then, you can go to the “Health” tab, scroll down, and select your Watch. In my case, it's “Mihai's Watch5,” but yours will have a different name.
Once you press this button, a pop-up will ask you to select a workout type on your Galaxy Watch. And if you look at your wrist, you will see that the TV has triggered the workout type selection screen on your Galaxy Watch.
Effectively, you can prompt a workout selection screen on your wearable from the Health screen on your TV, but you still have to use your Galaxy Watch for the final step: Choosing the workout type you want to record.
So, Galaxy Watches and Samsung TVs are still not quite as seamlessly integrated as we'd like them to. But it's getting there. This feature seems a bit redundant right now, but if it's an indication of what Samsung is trying to achieve with its cross-device integration philosophy, it looks promising.
Hopefully, with more work on Samsung's part, we'll soon be able to select a workout type on our Galaxy Watches via the TV's Health screen directly and not have to perform the final step from the wrist.
Maybe that — and many more cool cross-device features — will come to Samsung smart TVs with the Tizen 9 update next year.
